"Don't raise your voice, old chap."
"N-no. But—can't you tell me just what you really are?"
"I'm really quite all right," he assured me, laughingly.
"I assumed that. But—are you here, also, to keep an eye on these kings?"
"Well, you know one can't help noticing them——"
"Damn! Answer me."
"I admit," he said, "that they interest me."
So that was what brought Smith here, too! He must have known they were coming. He must have deliberately scraped acquaintance with me for this purpose.
"I thought," said I bitterly, "that you really liked me, Smith."
"I do, confound you!" he said. "If I didn't both like and trust you, do you think I'd have been so careless in concealing my identity?"